I have been thinking a lot lately about how I look at fitness and how I want to train myself. I’ve been thinking about the whole fitness world and our society as a whole. And I have allowed myself to dream.

Will you come along with me as we dream together??

Let’s dream together of a world where women are confident in themselves and their bodies.

I know it is really hard to think about because we have all been trained by our society to think of the ideal female form as really thin, almost waif-like. This ‘ideal’ woman has a body that is near impossible to achieve without constant dieting and sadistic amounts of exercise. And then since it is nearly impossible to achieve women get stuck in a downward spiral of trying to achieve this body and then constantly failing. Eventually, women just quit trying all the while still yearning for that perfect body.

What if…

What if we gave up on what society was trying to tell us?

What if we acknowledged that our bodies are amazing and strong?

What IF we ate well and exercised because we LOVED our bodies, not because we hated them??

That raises a few questions, doesn’t it?

How can we move from believing our bodies are horrible and hating them to believing our bodies are amazing and loving them?

I have a few ideas….

“She is Clothed With STRENGTH and DIGNITY…” (Proberbs 31:25)

That is what our Creator said about our bodies. That is not what society says.

Which one do you think we should believe?

I, for one, CHOOSE to believe what my Creator has to say about His handiwork.

I am STRONG.

I am SPECIAL.

I am DIGNIFIED.

I am LOVED.

Keep repeating that to yourself as many times as it takes for you to believe it.

Forget about the scale.

I would say at some point we have all been slaves to the scale.

How often do you weigh yourself? Bi-Weekly? Weekly? Daily? Morning and Evening?

How do you feel when you weigh yourself? Awesome or Defeated? And how is your mood after you weigh yourself?

Goodness, it is crazy how much we allow that crazy piece of equipment to determine our moods and emotions.

Do we find our worth in a scale or elsewhere?

If you are following along with Number One above you know that scale has absolutely ZERO authority over your worth.

Z…E…R…O…!!!

There are also all kinds of factors that go into your weight. The scale does not differentiate between fat, muscle, and essential organs.

You could actually carry a lot of muscle, therefore registering a high number on the scale, and assume you need to lose a ton of weight. The reality could be that you don’t need to lose that much FAT after all.

Forget the scale.

It is not your friend.

Chunk it.

Focus on Goals

You’ve ditched the scale, right?

So, how can you track your progress?

GOALS.

Tangible, quantifiable goals.

And, a certain number on the scale does not count.

Pick fitness goals. Run a 5K. Run a marathon. Finish an obstacle race or mud run. Set strength/lifting goals.

Pick something awesome.

Pick something that seems impossible. Break it down into achievable steps. And dive into achieving those goals.

And as you achieve more and more goals you will realize how awesome you really are. Your confidence will go up. You will realize that your body is pretty awesome too.

You are strong.

You are fast.

You are an athlete.

You will love your body for what it can do.

You will eat to fuel it and exercise it to keep it in tip-top shape.

Here is where I share my specific dream…

I Dream Women Will Acknowledge Their Epicness.

I am mad at society for lying to women by saying they should be thin and weak.

I am also mad that society has been lying to women about their strength and that lifting anything over a 10-pound dumbbell will make them “big and bulky” like men.

I am mad at society for saying women have to be thin to run long distances and be considered “runners.”

Guess what?

Women are STRONG and women can go far.

It has nothing to do with our shape or size.

We are holding ourselves back and not realizing how amazing our bodies are because we believe all the insane myths circulating on the internet and in mainstream ‘fitness’ magazines.

There is no reason why we can’t squat, bench press, and deadlift with the men. There is no reason why we can’t go after those insane races and show them who’s boss.

Don’t EVER let other people tell you what you can and cannot do. Only YOU make that choice.

LOVE this so so much! I turn 50 in about 8 months and I was thinking this morning that I need an epic fitness goal to achieve by then. The idea of the mud run that you mentioned caught my attention. What a fun way to celebrate half a century that would be! You have inspired me. Thank you!. I’ll pin and tweet this.

YES!! Love this so much! I was feeling stuck, so I’ve been setting goals to walk my dogs a little further each day, which helps all of us feel and sleep better. My goal for the month is to hike a local trail with gorgeous scenery. I’m not great at hiking, so it’ll be rewarding when I do it!